Running for the presidency in the early 1960s, Barry M. Goldwater defined conservatism as needing to refrain from insisting that biblical morality, such as it is, be any part of political governance. Many of our country’s founding fathers agree that state and church must remain separate from each other to preserve and protect both. Over the course of his career, Barry Goldwater made the following statements: (emphasis mine)
“Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.Fellow Republicans, it is the cause of Republicanism to resist concentrations of power, private or public, which enforce such conformity and inflict such despotism. It is the cause of Republicanism to ensure that power remains in the hands of the people.”
And: “There is no position in which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God’s name on one’s behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in ‘A,’‘B,’‘C,’ and ‘D,’. Just who do they think they are? And where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of ‘conservatism’”
And: “Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the {Republican) party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.”
In a Washington Post article by David Broder (September 15, 1981), Goldwater said:
“By maintaining the separation of church and state, the United States has avoided the intolerance which has so divided the rest of the world with religious wars.”
Speaking of the Moral Majority and “pro-life” organizations, Goldwater called the “religious factions that are growing throughout our land … a divisive element that could tear apart the very spirit of our representative system, if they gain sufficient strength.”
Importantly, Goldwater said he shared many of the values emphasized by the religious right“… but, that he would “fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of “conservatism.”
From Broder’s article: Asked about the bill to encourage chastity among teenagers that was sponsored by one of the “New Right” senators, Jeremiah Denton (R-Ala.), Goldwater said, “How the hell are you going to regulate that? They’ve been trying ever since the apple. It’s just like abortion. You can make them unconstitutional, but they’re still going to go out and have one.”
You have a right to your religious beliefs, folks, just don’t legislatively or physically force others to join you. Goldwater had some racist and harsh militaristic views with which I disagree, but about the separation of State and Church, he was absolutely right! And so, here we are.